blueinstyle

Options include showing comments from specific categories, or excluding categories.
Exclude users from comment list by email address.
Uses a template to display comments exactly the way you want.
Limit amount of words or characters to display in each comment.
Include user’s Gravatar or Facebook avatar in comment list.
Create unlimited comment lists each with their own unique settings and options.
Support and Feature requests are on my forums at http://justmyecho.com/forums/

Customized Recent Comments

Display recent comments on your blog with complete control over the layout and format of comments.

darrinb

This recent comments widget provides advanced widget features for displaying comment author avatars and an excerpt of their comment.
Features
<ul>
<li>Select which post types to show comments for. (You can choose either all types, or a specific type.)</li>
<li>Exclude pingbacks and trackbacks.</li>
<li>Set the number of comments to show.</li>
<li>Set the order for displaying the comments.</li>
<li>Show comment author avatar.</li>
<li>Set and preview avatar size.</li>
<li>Show an excerpt of the comment.</li>
<li>Determine the length of the excerpt.</li>
<li>Select the comment list format to match your site’s markup. Choose from: <code>ol</code>, <code>ul</code>, or <code>div</code>.</li>
<li>Select the comment format. Choose between <code>html5</code> or <code>xhtml</code>.</li>
<li>Create multiple comment lists with different settings.</li>
</ul>
Developer Features
This widget was built not only with end-users in mind, but also plugin developers. Almost every aspect of this widget is extensible through filters and action hooks. You can even add your own form fields to the widget form!
<ul>
<li>Need to remove a field from the widget form? Not a problem! Every field is passed through its own filter for easy customization.</li>
<li>Need to modify the output of the widget? Easy! The output is passed through numerous filters, allowing you to customize the comment list to meet your project’s requirements.</li>
<li>For a full list of action hooks and filters, please see the plugin documentation: http://darrinb.com/plugins/advanced-comments-widget</li>
</ul>

Advanced Comments Widget

A highly customizable recent comments widget with avatars and excerpts.

Customized Recent Comments vs Advanced Comments Widget